Jesus is our High Priest, who is seated in the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. This portrayal of Christ is a key argument for the deity of Christ in Hebrews. This place at God’s right hand belonged to Christ because he was more than just a high priest; he is God’s Son. Heaven refers to the heavenly sanctuary, the dwelling place of God, the ultimate and eternal destination for all who believe, and therefore an even greater reality than what we see. This present world is merely a representation or shadow of what will come. Because of this, Christ’s ministry will be greater than the priests who served in the earthly Tabernacle or Temple, as we see in the following verse.As we have discussed, the high priest’s work was to offer gifts and sacrifices. Priests had been appointed to offer sacrifices to atone for sin, so Christ, as our High Priest, must also make an offering. He offered his own life to God in our place—the perfect gift that could never be surpassed. “He sacrificed himself on the cross”. Christ’s sacrifice is all-sufficient; that is, all sins are covered in his once-for-all offering to God. Therefore, his role as priest, his sacrifice, and his service to God all surpass the plan under the old covenant.
God gave Moses the pattern for the Tabernacle, and Moses was warned to follow it carefully, having been warned to make everything according to the design God had shown him. This earthly sanctuary was meant to reflect, however imperfectly, the heavenly Tabernacle. The book of Hebrews does not try to describe heaven; instead, it shows how Christ serves in a better, more personal way than any other priest could. Because the Temple at Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed, using the worship system there as an example would have had a great impact on this original audience. Their Temple, and all they knew about the original Tabernacle constructed by Moses, had been an imperfect picture intended to give the people an appreciation of the heavenly reality that would one day be theirs.
Since the people continually broke God’s covenant. When they failed to keep the requirements imposed on them, they broke the covenant. God, however, promised a new covenant that would not be filled with laws about sacrifices and other external responsibilities. Rather, it would bring about spiritual reconciliation by producing change in people’s inner beings.
Under God’s new covenant, God’s law is inside us. It is no longer an external set of rules and principles. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ’s words, activates our consciences, influences our motives and desires, and makes us want to obey. Now we desire to do God’s will with all our heart and mind.
This new covenant has four provisions:
The new covenant provides inward change: “I will put my laws in their minds . . . I will write them on their hearts.” This means having a new “heart,” and with it a new sense of intimacy with God where he is known as Father and where Christians are known as children of God and heirs. This new heart will bring the people’s relationship with God to a personal level (not just through intermediaries). Having these laws written on our hearts means that we will want to obey God.
The new covenant provides intimacy with God: “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” This reveals a positive, close relationship between God and his people. In the first covenant, people continually failed to live up to this relationship. In the new covenant, this relationship is secured through Jesus Christ. Although the promise was always there, it now has a newer and richer meaning because of the provision of Christ.
The new covenant provides knowledge of God: “Everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me.” The new covenant brings a new relationship between people and God, making each believer a priest. Every believer has access to God through prayer. Every believer can understand God’s saving promises as revealed in the Bible because he or she has God as a living presence in his or her heart. Of course, there will still be the need for teachers, but every believer will be able to know God—not just priests or a select few.
The new covenant provides complete forgiveness from sins: “I will forgive their wrongdoings, and I will never again remember their sins.” People of the old covenant had forgiveness of sins, but they had experienced an incomplete, unlasting forgiveness as demonstrated by the incessant need to make sacrifices for sins. In the new covenant, sin and its effect of separating people from God are eliminated. God wipes out memory of sin and renders sin as if it had never occurred. Sin’s impact is completely overcome, making it possible for believers to receive the promised blessing. There is no longer any barrier to our relationship with God.
All four of these characteristics bring about a true righteousness that could not be known under the old covenant.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
The unbelievable forgiveness of God is amazing. He wipes out my sin. He sees it no more. And yet, why is it that I sometimes have a hard time forgiving others? Why is it that sometimes I like to hold a grudge and hang onto hurt. May it never be. While i can't make people want to get right with me, after all, they have a choice in the matter, I must do everything in my power to be right with them
The Bible says, “God reconciled us to Himself through Christ and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Part of our job in being part of the family of God is we are to be peacemakers, not trouble makers. We’re to bring people together, not blow them apart. We’re to help people get along who disagree rather than try to create polarization in our society. That’s why we’re not a culture warrior church. We’re a peacemaker church because God has given us the ministry of reconciliation – taking opposing sides and try to bring them together.
The fact is, the world is filled with broken relationships. Everybody want to agree with that? The world is filled with broken relationships. You’re going to be hurt in life. You’ve already been hurt. I’m sorry. You’ve been hurt by what people have said about you, by what people thought about you, by what people have done to you – emotionally, physically, verbally, maybe sexually, financially. You’re going to be hurt in life by the things that people say and do. Many of you carry deep wounds from hurts in the past. From a parent or a partner or a peer, sibling, whoever.. Somebody in your life who wounded you deeply. Even as I write this, I am sure that those who have hurt you come to mind pretty quickly.
I want to say to you, as somebody who loves you and cares about you, if you want God’s best in your life you’re going to have to let it go. You’re going to have to learn how to let go of past hurts. That is not an easy thing to do. There’s only one antidote to painful memories. Forgiveness. Sorry! There’s no other option. Nothing else can set you free from the past except forgiveness. Offering forgiveness, asking forgiveness, accepting forgiveness. Nothing else works. If you want to get on with your life and you want your life to count and you want to be happy in life, you’re going to have to learn to let go of past hurts.
Who do you need to forgive today? Who do you need to go to and seek forgiveness?
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